March 10, 20X2 (Tuesday)
Zhao Manor"What do you mean?" Mei Lin tried to act innocent as if she did not know what Mother Zhao was talking about, in her last effort to conceal herself. It was the only thing that she could think of. On her side, Yang was snickering at her awed and nervous expression. The two kids were curious about what the adults are talking about but refrained from asking and choosing to listen instead because they were more interested in watching their pregnant mother gape like a fish.
Mother Zhao smirked at Mei Lin, her eyes turning into small inverted crescents. Mother Zhao said after a while of staring at her eyes, "You did not fool me with your secret ideality named Miss M in the first place."
"What? I mean when, and how did you know?" Mei Lin asked after a while of staring wide-eyed at Mother Zhao with mouth gaped open in surprise. She had never expected Mother Zhao to know this little secret of hers. Mei Lin had done her best to hide a fact that was already known. She felt cheated somehow.
"Of course, I know." Mother Zhao smirked, answering as vaguely as she can. It reminded Mei Lin the full extent of the power that Mother Zhao had in her fingertips. Mei Lin was once again speechless at the magnitude of strength, and cunning everyone in the Zhao family possesses.
"How?" Mei Lin asked again, persistent in knowing the truth.
"You can"t escape my eyes and ears, my dear. You need to learn that." were the only words that Mei Lin could get from the older woman.
Just as Mei Lin was about to ask another question to try again, determined to know more, Jerome Bonaparte strutted inside with a broad cherry grin and asking, "What is happening here, people of earth? Why is my darling daughter looking as if she had stepped on a landmine?"
Mei Lin did not appreciate the interruption caused by her father, but she was happy to see him regardless of being a person with lousy timing. She was always glad to see her father because even if his task was already done, he still stayed to be whatever she needs him to be while she was still pregnant; a babysitter, housekeeper, or a person to rant to when her husband doesn"t give her the food she wanted. Jerome is where Mei Lin will go if she wanted to be spoiled without hesitation.
"She discovered that Mom knew about her secret ident.i.ty as Miss M, which she had been trying to hide especially from her... for reasons, unknown to me, I might add," Yang recalled the events and told it as concise as possible. When he first discovered Mei Lin"s secret through Yue, he had expected his mother knowing everything. He only kept quiet about it out of respect for Mei Lin"s decisions; no matter how much he found it too obvious. After all, when it comes to information, n.o.body could gather it as fast as his mother could.
Mei Lin silenced Yang with a heated glare, which forced the CEO to behave like a child. Yang acted as if he zipped his mouth and threw the invisible key at his back. The kids, who were listening in the side, giggled as their father behaved like a wayward child in the orphanage. Once Mei Lin"s eyes rolled towards their direction, Ling Ling and Chang both sat still, afraid of their usual gentle mother turning into a hormonal wreck and snapping at them like she usually does to their father. The rest of the family giggled at the reaction shown by the kids. It was clear who they were more afraid and well behaved.
Jerome snickered before he exposed the truth, "I was the one that told her. I needed someone with weight to pressure the Bonaparte to recognize my grandfather, who was me in disguise, as a painter they liked so Mei Lin will have qualification after I taught her...and she happens to have scared hem enough at some point."
Me Lin was still an infant when Lady Xing barged into the Bonaparte Mansion to demand them to help retrieve her best friend"s fallen body. When it was discovered that her remains were nothing but ashes, it was Mother Zhao that made sure Mei Lin would be returned to the country of her birth. Jerome had the utmost respect of his usually rival to his wife"s time. Xing Hui Ying might be someone he will never see eye to eye with, but he undoubtedly has more respect for her than any person with n.o.ble blood, including his stupid Father.
The Manor was full of laughter after that as Mother Zhao and Jerome started their daily exercise of subtly bas.h.i.+ng each other with words full of hidden meanings. The kids had no idea, but the adults were forcing themselves to stop laughing so hard so they won"t choke on their food.
Meanwhile, Elias saw the chaos the netizens had caused on every social media platform concerning the paintings and the ident.i.ty of Miss M. He had never encountered this large of a mess even before Miss M was still rising to fame. Knowing that someday this might happen, Elias had already prepared many things to prove to the general public. Hours pa.s.sed, Videos after videos of Mei Lin painting her first to her latest collection was uploaded on Miss M"s social media. Pictures of Mei Lin and her paintings that was now in private hands were sent next and was followed by images of official transaction slips from buyers to him and from him to Mei Lin.
Once Elias was done, he sat with a smirk in his office and muttered, "I"ve been waiting for this moment to reveal her real ident.i.ty anyway."
It was safe to say that the 20 or more videos plus more than 30 pictures became viral worldwide. Mei Lin had not even finished her breakfast, and her life was starting to change once again. People were talking about it; media outlets reach out to interview Mei Lin and Paparazzi began to park in Zhao Manor and the M&Friends Design building. Ye Lan was fuming with all the news reports while pregnant Mei Lin, on the other hand, was busy trying to distract her husband from retaking her before he goes to work. It was not easy to cope up with Zhao Yang while having a large stomach. Being Mrs. Zhao was hard work.